Number plate for telephone dials



May 1935- W. w. WERRING ET AL 2,002,969

NUMBER PLATE FOR TELEPHONE DIALS M Fild Jan. 51, 1954 FIG.

DEF ABC WWWERR/Nc; WVENTOR JTSHUXHAM A TTORNE Y ms l 2,002,969

airs!) STAT'ESTPATENT oFFlcEf NUMBER, PLATE FORTELEPHONE nIALs Walter W.'Wcrring, Brooklyn, N. Y., and Trevor S. Huxham,'6hatham,*N. J.,assignors to Bell Telephone Laboratories, Incorporated, New York, N. Y.,a corporation of New York Application January 31, 1 9 34, Serial No.709448 5 Claims. (o1 .-40-'-10.5)

Thislinvention relates to telephone. dials and trates the relativedisposition of the several acemore particularly, to the number plateswhich tate films which are applied to the metal'ba'ckconstitute anessential part thereof. ing or base. V The'telephone dial number platein common As illustrated by F g,- 2 the number Plate f use todayconsists generally of a. metal disc, this invention comprises ametalbase plate" H to enameled or otherwise provided with 'a smoothwhich is completely enclosed 'or enveloped in a opaque "upper surfaceupon which are printed or Coating olifilm C 0811111086 the otherwiseimpressed suitable dial characters; up er surface and edges of which arecovered by The number plate is located on the dial immeditwo films I3and M of white cellulose acetate and 10 ately beneath a rotatable fingerwheel provided ransparent cellulose acetate respectiv ly, 10 with aplurality of finger holes-through each of film 13 being interposedbetween thevfilms 12 which, except the first one, several of the dial d1 characters are visible when the finger wheel is e u e P a e I f hinventionmaiylbe in its normal or 'unactuate'd osition, Throughmanufactured in accordance with several meth- 15 theagency of the fingerwheeL. a subscriber may 0618 which embody h ppl cati nof Sheet acel5effect the transmission of any series of impulses tate, prayed acetatelacou r 0 a ombin tioni corresponding to the station designation orteleta w w e d c b dphone number of any other telephone line, by a The ta bai orbasemay bestamped inserting; in the proper sequence, vthe finger inasan aperturcd i s o o h rw s O the finger wheel holes corresponding tothe digits sheet metal stock and sand blasted to provide it 0 comprisingthe number to be dialed and after with a rough surface to which thefirst film or each insertion, turning the finger Wheel in a coating ofacetate adheres. The disc ll is-then clockwise direction to the limit ofits rotation, as sp aye on both S d and edges W Clear determined by theposition of a finger stop, and lulose acetate to provide it with thecovering film then releasing the finger wheel. g i or envelope l2. Thiscoating or film is allowed 25 It is the object of this invention toprovide a to d y- A Sheet of White acetate s then p new and improvedtype of number plate for tele- (ad or otherwise provided with the dialcharacters phone dials which is substantially rigid and in 7 shown inFig. l and is united with a sheet I4 of which the exposed surface isimproved in its recl ar a tate by h t-pr ss ng r m nt After I sistanceto the yellowing or aging efiects of light a permanent bond has beeneifected between the 30 and to wear. V sheets or films I3 and "M, thecomposite sheet so This object is attained in accordance with a formedis applied to the upper surface or film l2 feature of thisinvention byproviding a metal andhOt-pressed or cementedin position. This backing orbase with a covering of'cellulose acecomposite sheet is of suitabledimensions to tats, which covering will not be afiected by light allowthe edges thereoft'o be formed over the 5 as to cause discoloration andis resistant to wear rim or down turned edge of the disc I I. Themacaused by light and wear. terial formed over the disc edge, as shownin More specifically, this object is' attained by Fig. 2, is hot-pressedto the underside of the disc, superimposing on and adhesivelyassociating with the undercoating 12 of clear acetate serving to 40 ametal base plate a series of cellulose acetate provide an effective bondtherefor. If desirable, films, one of said films providing a contrastingthe formed over portions of sheets l2 and I 3 background for printeddial characters and may be crimped rather than hot-pressed to theanother of said films providing a transparent underside of the coateddisc.

protective covering for the printed characters, In accordance with amodified form/of the the several films and base plate being united inmeth d of ma ufa tu j dth fil s such a manner as to provide a rigidintegral 3 and I4 may be pp d pa ate vtc coated unitary numb r platedisc H. Thefilm' I3 is applied by spraying white The in entio il bereadily understood fmm acetate lacquer directly on the acetate coatingthe following detailed description made with reffilm and 111511011 amanner as to COVel the erence to the accompanying drawing in which: discedges and the underside of the disc rim. 50

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a telephone dial num- This coating is thenallowed to dry and the dial ber plate made in accordance with thisinvention, characters are printed or otherwise impressed d V thereon.The clear acetate film l4 may then be Fig. 2 is an enlargedcross-section of 'a. portion applied in sheet form, being hot-pressed orceof the number plate shown in Fig. 1 and illusmented in position andformed over the disc 55 .2 r edges as des'cribed in connection with thecomposite sheet of the previous method. If desirable,

the dial characters may be printed on the underside of the clear acetatesheet rather than directly on the white acetate film; in either case thewhite film constitutes a suitable background for theprinted characters.When the dial characters are printed on the underside of the clearacetate sheet, the white acetate may be sprayed directly on the printedsurface to form the white background.

The number plate of this invention may also be made by an all-sprayingmethod. This method distinguishes from the method just described only inthe substitution "ofclear acetate lacquer for the clear acetate sheet,the lacquer being applied to the white acetate film by spraying. In thiscase no forming of material over the disc edges is required.- It isessential, of course, i that the dial characters be printed on the whiteacetate film prior to the spraying of the clear acetateafinish.

Irrespective of whichof the several methods of manufacture justdescribed is resorted to, a dial number plate is produced whichcomprises a sub stantially rigid base member completely en- :veloped inanacetate film, the upper surface of ent cellulose acetate adhesivelyassociated with said character bearing film.

2. A number plate for telephone dials comprising a base plate, anenvelope of cellulose material in which said base plate is enclosed, acharacter bearing film of cellulose material and a transparent film ofcellulose material covering said character bearing film, said characterbear-.

ing film, transparent film and envelope being inseparably united one toanother and supported by said base plate.

3. A number plate for telephone dials cornprising a disc-like base platehaving a peripheral lip, an envelope of cellulose material in which saidplate is enclosed, a character bearing film of cellulose material and afilm of transparent cellulose material, said character bearing andtransparent films being united to each other and covering the uppersurface and lip portion of said enclosed base plate.

4. ,The' method -of manufacturing number plates for telephone dialswhich comprises enclosing a metal backing orbase in an envelope ofcellulose acetate, applying to one surface and edges of said envelope afilm or white cellulose acetata'printing dial characters on said whitefilm and applying a film of transparent cellulose acetate to saidprinted'film.

5. The method of "manufacturing number I plates for telephone dialswhich comprises enveloping a metal backing or base in a film of acellulose derivative, adhesively covering a'portion of the envelopingfilm'with a film of a cellulose derivative, printing "dial characters onsaid second mentioned film andadhesively covering it with a'transparent'filmof a cellulose derivative.

- WALTER,W. WERRING.

TREVOR S. HUXHAM.

